BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT: ROMAN MISSAL CHANGES #1
On November 27, 2011, the first Sunday of Advent, every Roman Catholic Church in the Englishspeaking world will experience changes in the Roman Missal when they attend mass. What is
the Roman Missal? First of all, take notice of the red book that the priest uses most often
during Mass. This book is called the Sacramentary and together with the Lectionary for Mass
(the book that the lectors use), make up the Roman Missal. The Missal is the collection of
prayers, chants and instructions used to celebrate Mass. This includes prayers such as the Sign
of the Cross; opening greeting; opening prayers; Gloria; Creed; Eucharistic Prayers; Holy, Holy,
Holy; Memorial Acclamations and the final blessing. The majority of the prayers we recite or
sing at Mass are contained in this book and it is these prayers that have been retranslated from
the original Latin into English.
In the early Christian Church, many of the Mass prayers were memorized and handed
down orally. As manuscripts were handed on and scribed, slight changes and additions
developed. Eventually the chants, scripture readings, prayer texts and instructions were
compiled into a single volume, the Missale Plenum (complete missal). When Johannes
Gutenberg invented the movable printing press in 1470, the Mass texts became standardized
and published universally. In 1474, the first Missale Romanum (Roman Missal) was printed in
Latin and the texts contained in this volume evolved over the next five centuries.
The amount of scripture proclaimed at Mass increased following the Second Vatican
Council (1962-1965) so the Missale Romanum (Roman Missal) was divided into two separate
books: The Lectionary for Mass (four volumes of Sacred Scripture) and The Sacramentary
(prayers, chants and instructions for the celebration of Mass). The Lectionary texts for the
dioceses of the United States were revised in 1998 and are currently used in liturgy. These texts
will not be affected. The texts found in the current Sacramentary have been retranslated and
will be used in English-speaking countries this November. With this translation, the name of the
book will change from The Sacramentary to The Roman Missal, an English translation of the
Latin title, Missale Romanum.
Please refer to the bulletin on Sunday July 24 for a continuation of this column.